My Practice Regimen

[Doc Shapiro]

I haven't posted anything here in a while regarding practicing.  I could probably subtitle this post "How to Become a Top Shooter" 

I am gearing up and tuning up for the W3G World Cup, which is about 4 or 5 weeks out.  This is the only match of the year that awards prizes based on how you finish (at least for those in the Open division).  So I figured it was about time.  I haven't really done any practice in the last year or so and really need a tune up!

Here's what I do in the course of a week.  I hope that some of you will find it interesting and informative.  I hope you don't get discouraged!  There's a lot of time spent dry fire each day, and this is only about half of what I did when I was really working hard to get better.  Maybe it'll provide some insight into what it takes to get close to the top.  I don't by any stretch consider myself a top shooter.  I no longer put in the time and effort required to get there.

You'll also note that if you stretch this regimen out over the course of a year, the cost in gun modifications is dwarfed by the time and money spent on practice ammo!  That's the best place to spend your money if you want to improve.  Not on gun mods, but on reloading components.

Ok, enough rambling.  Here it is:

Dry fire, 6 days a week.  Roughly an 60 minutes a day, spread out.  I leave the guns handy and do 4 to 6 sessions during the course of the day.

2 (or 3) 15 minute sessions of this:
I have 5 paper targets taped to the wall.  They are 4x6 inches.  From about 20 feet back:
-  Pistol strings, focusing on smooth draw and pistol transition (or GF - smooth draw) and focusing on sight picture.  Work on not squeezing the trigger until the sights are on target and also on a fast reholster.  Work on non-shooting/shooting time.  Targets get shifted both vertically and horizontally before each 15 minute session and about half way through each 15 minute session.  I do every sequence I can come up with.

-  Rifle strings.  Again, focus on smooth pick up and set down, sight picture, and levering the gun with minimal sight picture disturbance.  Also, non-shooting/shooting time.

-  Shotgun strings.  4 to 8 shots.  Work on pickup, put down, smooth loading, non-shooting/shooting time. Fundamentals.

-  Moving while shooting, paying strict attention to sight picture.  Approaches, back ups, and lateral movement.  Working also on minimal disturbance to sight picture.

2 (or 3) 15 minute sessions focused strictly on transitions.
-  1 shot drills (1 shot from each gun, vertical and horizontal staging, non-shooting/shooting time, sight picture.  Mix up the gun order.

-  Multi shot drills focusing on the same stuff as above.

And whatever other things I can come up with to keep my interest level up!

Unfortunately, I will only be able to get to the range once a week between now and the World Cup.  Live fire will be between 500 and 750 rounds.  Depends on my level of fatigue.

Live fire will consist of (always using a timer):
- Shoot a stage cold!  Every session starts with a stage run.
- Quick Cal's 50 shot drill (pistol).
- Moving while shooting with pistols, rifle, and shotgun.
- Some rifle strings.
- I'll pick one Steel Challenge stage and work on that for about 50 rounds.
- Another 50 shot drill.
- Shoot groups (especially important with pistols)!
- Stage run.
- Moving while shooting.
- Whatever else I feel like I need to work on to address specific issues.
- Stage run

1 day a week I will NOT touch any guns.  After a monthly match, I'll still do the dry fire drills.  Live fire targets are ALWAYS about 3 yards farther than I expect to see at a match.  Although the final stage run will be on targets at the distance I expect to see them.

The live fire practice session can run up to 2 hours, again depending on my level of fatigue I may quit early.  If I find bad habits creeping in, I'll stop and focus strictly on that until it's fixed.

So there ya have it.  Up to 10 hours and max of 750 rounds a week, plus a regular monthly match each weekend.  If I could take the time to get to the range twice a week, I'd do a different set of live fire exersizes on the other day.

You will note that I don't really stress shotgun or transitions live fire.  I'll do a little to get a feel for where I am on the timer, but that's stuff that can be done at home more effectively.

When I was really working to improve, it was twice a week at the range, rain or shine, and twice the dry fire I have listed here. Some days all I did was go out and shoot as fast as I possibly could and other days all I did was shoot groups.  I typically went through 50 or 60 thousand rounds a year for about 3 years when this was the case.

Let me know if you want more in-depth look at anything in particular.

[Camille Eonich]

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